cartography, foraging as a skill / random ideas

[Dawnshift]

cartography:
I like the idea of using landmarks to navigate and creating your own maps, but i find the process as well as the progress to completely map a location very tedious. As such i would like to see a skill that reduces the 'grind' and adds a hud indicator for the location of the sun relative to the player (considering compasses are out of the question). I mean if it comes to actual survival in the wilderness, navigation is quite important - having a skill for that only makes sense.

foraging:
I like the idea of living off the land (besides hunting), but i think there is more to be found than river reed even in a taiga/permafrost biome. I could see finding maybe acorns, cranberries, blueberries, bearberries, ferns or burdock under the snow with a shovel or watercress, freshwater mussels , kelp and seeweed in/near water/ocean if you can break the ice.

As for how this is implemented - maybe some snowhills can be interacted with for plant search (with hands or shovel)
and maybe you can reuse the 'fishing hole node' (breaking the ice part stays the same after all) over bodies of water to search for plants below.

Maybe some of there plants have a interaction with the aurora light and have a flourescent effect or a 'glow in the dark' effect that promoted a (sorely lacking) reason to venture out at night . 

random ideas:

- malnutrition as an affliction (from eating meat only; counter that builds up similar to parasites, reduces maximum health or calories to a degree)
- other injuries for immersions sake (muscle cramps, muscle injury, bruises -> getting a sprain with army boots on is kinda silly .. )
- smoking / drying / curing food is relatively easy to do (i get we don't have curing salt, but it doesnt need to be 100% realistic)
- challenge mode 'sprint': reach destination in a certain tight timeframe
- challenge mode 'hoarder v2': amass a specific random resource and repair the ship to leave the island
- challenge mode 'extermination': keep an area clean of wolves for a certain timeframe
- specific themed 'loadouts' for survival (like scientist, hunter, tourist, .. - like one or two guaranteed starting items specific to job)
- a research base as a future location might also be cool

[nicko]

you have some nice suggestions , few posted before but all good.

[Soul Sojourner]

Totally agree on the first part, I would definitely like to see cartography and navigation further enhanced and optimized. If there are no compasses, which still doesn't make sense to me since a CME would only make them act oddly during the events, making them usable the rest of the time, then some additional features would be helpful. The charcoal mapping system works very inefficiently, as you have to haul around heavy charcoal and then use it and hope that you're in a location that will actually reveal a decent amount, half of the time missing nearby map markers even though you're within range of them, and not showing everything around you if you're near a wall/rocks. Having sun position showing on the map screen would be fantastic, and at night with a higher navigation skill, it could show the location of the north star.

Foraging would be interesting and I've thought that in the past too, that there should be a few more natural edible items for sure. I would also like to see an additional fish breed or two as well, and see the ice fishing get optimized a bit more. Currently ice fishing hardly compares to hunting in early games.

Cured/smoked foods would be awesome, and salty! It would add to the game for sure, and require you have extra water handy.

+1

[Dawnshift]

10 minutes ago, Soul Sojourner said:

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I would also like to see an additional fish breed or two as well, and see the ice fishing get optimized a bit more. Currently ice fishing hardly compares to hunting in early games.

Well maybe we'll see an equivalent to the old bear in a 'monster sturgeon' hunt later. Also mussels and crabs.. no especially crabs..
 

18 minutes ago, Soul Sojourner said:

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The charcoal mapping system works very inefficiently, as you have to haul around heavy charcoal and then use it and hope that you're in a location that will actually reveal a decent amount, half of the time missing nearby map markers even though you're within range of them, and not showing everything around you if you're near a wall/rocks.
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I find the sheer amount of material needed in mapping ridiculus - you could fill a house with all the charcoal needed to map everything. And then - like you said - half the time it doesn't work like you'd expect (i mean those pesky missing spots can trigger any completionist).